Visit the UK’s leading indoor agricultural event, with eleven packed halls of the very latest in agricultural machinery and equipment. Now at the NEC, Birmingham this is free to attend and free to park.

Abi took up the post of chief reporter at Farmers Guardian after a stint working for the NFU as part of its government affairs team. Load More...

Share This

Gove to ‘reflect’ on introducing support for predator control

Mr Gove made the remarks when giving evidence to a House of Lords committee last week.

Asked whether Natural England would be able to support predator and pest control to maintain biodiversity in future, as its Scottish counterpart does, the Defra Secretary said: “I would have to reflect on that.

“I would not want to set any hares running at this stage. One of the things about predator and pest control is there can be fixed caps in this debate whom it is wise not to antagonise, but let me give consideration to this, because there is a lot that happens in Scotland which I admire, some things I do not.”

Conservation

In Scotland, predator control is accepted as an important part of conservation and wildlife management, and Scottish farmers are able to make use of a ‘predator control’ option under the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme.

The option supports predator control on permanent grassland or rough grazing to benefit ground-nesting birds such as black grouse and waders.

It can be used to deal with crows – carrion crows, hooded crows, jays and magpies – as well as foxes, stoats, weasels and mink which prey on birds.

Farmers Guardian asked the RSPB if it would support such an option in England.

Dynamic

A spokesman said: “The debate around the future of environment land management schemes is extremely dynamic at the moment and it would be wrong to commit to something at such an early stage in the debate without considering all the possible options.

“We look forward to taking part in the public consultation on this topic and working together with others to create an environment that works better for people and wildlife.”